The 100th Day of School is a cause for celebration in elementary schools. This year, Kutztown Elementary School celebrated with the Cereal Box Challenge.
“The Cereal Box Challenge was a wonderful collaboration of ideas that culminated in a project-based, charitable approach to celebrating the 100th day at Kutztown Elementary School for the 2021-22 school year,” said Superintendent Christian Temchatin.
Students were challenged to bring in 100 boxes of cereal to be used to set up a domino run in the school hallway. After the domino run, the cereal was to be donated to local food pantries.
“We thought it would be a fun way to celebrate 100 days of school and to be able to give back to our town,” said Kutztown Elementary School Principal Deborah L. Barnes.
The KES Spirit Committee, led by teachers Kristen Brightbill and Nikki Yergey, wanted to do something fun for the 100th Day and proposed this idea that they had seen somewhere to the team. The committee liked the idea and ran with it, said Barnes.
“We want our students to spread joy in our community whenever possible. This seemed like the perfect opportunity,” said Barnes.
Students exceeded the challenge, donating nearly 500 boxes of cereal that were distributed to Zion Church, Friend Inc. and the Lutheran Center on Kutztown University’s campus.
“We are really grateful for the generosity of KES families,” said Barnes.
A Full School Project
“It’s always a fun day on the 100th day of school,” Temchatin told the school board at their Feb. 7 meeting, noting that there is a great video of the event. “The cereal box run ended up being a full school project where some students in the Endeavor Program calculated the number of boxes they would need to traverse a segment of Kutztown Elementary School.”
The logistics of having the cereal box domino run go around the entire school building square were really challenging so the cereal box run went down each of the long hallways, both primary and intermediate grades, said Temchatin.
“Students were really excited. Families sent in nearly 500 boxes of cereal which was then donated to local food pantries,” he said. “We took this opportunity to celebrate the 100th day. There were some statistical calculations involved but in the end it’s philanthropy, too.”
“It really was a fun event,” he added.
Students set up a cereal box domino run along the entire primary hallway and along the entire intermediate hallway. They problem-solved and calculated the spacing needed and how long the domino run would be.
“Students were instrumental in pulling this off with the support of teacher Karise Mace,” said Barnes. “From calculating the spacing needed for the boxes in the domino run to setting up the course to loading teachers’ cars to deliver the boxes to the food pantry, students were involved in every aspect.”
The KES Spirit Committee hopes students gained a sense of community.
“We hope they felt connected to one another as we celebrated 100 days of learning together and that they felt like good citizens by contributing to local food banks,” said Barnes.
Source: Berkshire mont
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